By Ella Diaz
Dear Graduate and Undergraduate Students of
MALCS,
I write one last blog for
the 2011-2012 academic year to offer some concrete advice about how to make the
most out of the 2012 MALCS Summer Institute at U.C. Santa Barbara. I wish I
could attend, but I will be in the midst of a move. I hope to see all of you in
the summer of 2013. Here’s my best advice for the conference!
1. Attend as many of the creative performances
as possible.
Why? Every year, conference
planners go above and beyond to stage as many contemporary performances in
Chicana-Latina arts. The arts are integral to all of our fields in
Chicana-Latina Studies. At their core, the arts are pedagogical, cultural,
traditional, and expressive of our shared experiences. In addition to the
scholarly panels and discussions of best research, teaching, and career
practices, attending a performance will affirm your commitment to your studies
and energize you throughout the conference.
2. Be outgoing and make new acquaintances.
How? Introduce yourself to
folks after a presentation. Invite someone who is by herself to join you or you
and your friends for lunch. The MALCS conference is unlike any other I have
been to. Conferences, as many of you know, can be really awkward experiences:
you don't know anyone, it's professional and thus stressful, and you get
lonely. Unlike these usual experiences and feelings, MALCS members are excited
and enthusiastic to know you. Operating from a Chicana-Latina feminist praxis
of scholarship, MALCSistas celebrate each other and each other's work during
the Institute. So get caught up in the environment, energy, and people.
3. Have a set of cards made, listing your name,
school, field(s) and contact info.
WHY? The conference is a
great opportunity to meet new faculty and senior scholars in your fields. After
presentations, great conversations take place and you want to follow up with
presenters and audience participants who may become supportive mentors and or
professional contacts. Take some cards with you; before handing them out, write
a quick reminder for the recipient about your interaction.
4. Plan your schedule.
How? Upon receiving the
conference schedule, take an hour and read over every panel, date and time.
This is very important because you never know who is presenting. Recently, I
missed a colleague from my graduate school days while he was in San Francisco
presenting at a recent conference – which I was also presenting at! Planning your attendance at panels
beforehand will also give you a point of view for the conference. By this I
mean that you will think more critically about how you plan to use each of the
experiences and what part of your professionalization they will benefit.
Ella Diaz is an At Large Representative of MALCS and will be joining the faculty of Cornell University in the fall of 2012 in Latin@ Studies.
Ella, thanks for these reminders of how to get the most out of the Summer Institute! Theresa
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips, Ella.
ReplyDeleteI would also remind attendees that Institute organizers do a great job of bringing in local community activists to discuss their work. This provides yet another opportunity for us to bridge the community-academy divide, and reflect on differences and commonalities.
-ssq